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Turn debt
into hope

CANCEL DEBT TO CREATE HOPE

As we begin our journey for the 2025 Jubilee, Pope Francis reminds us that “hope should be granted to the billions of the poor who often lack the essentials of life” and that “the goods of the Earth are not destined for a privileged few but for everyone.” (Spes Non Confundit, 15-16)

Inspired by this call to justice, we are joining Caritas Internationalis’ campaign Turn Debt into Hope along with many other faith-based and civil society organisations.

Together, we urge decision-makers to prioritise people and planet over mere profit and demand debt justice for communities crushed by unjust and unpayable debts.

As the Holy Father writes, “if we really wish to prepare a path to peace in our world, we must commit ourselves to remedying the remote causes of injustice, settling unjust and unpayable debts” (Spes Non Confundit, 16).

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National launch webinar

If you missed our campaign launch webinar, which took place on March 1, 2025 with our guest Javier Jahncke (our partner in Peru, CEAS) feel free to watch the recording.

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Events

To learn more about the campaign, feel free to attend a workshop in your area. See our events page for more information.

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Fundraising

By giving, you help turn debt into hope for millions of people in the Global South who want to live in dignity, free from the burden of debt.

Women from DRC | Femmes de RDC

THIS LENT, DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT!

By becoming a Share Year-Round monthly donor during Lent, or by increasing your monthly contribution at any time between Ash Wednesday (March 5, 2025) and Pentecost (June 8, 2025), your total annual donation (or increase) will be matched dollar for dollar.

Monthly giving is a great way to support our mission as your recurring, predictable donations reduce our administrative costs and allow us to plan longer-term transformative work. You also become a member of the organization and join a family of over 12,800 Canadians who share your values and your convictions!

The Jubilee reminds us that the goods of the earth are not destined for a privileged few, but for everyone. The rich must be generous and not avert their eyes from the faces of their brothers and sisters in need.

What is a Jubilee?

Celebrated every 25 years in the Catholic Church, a jubilee is a special year of forgiveness and reconciliation, in which people are invited to come back into right relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation. The tradition is inspired by the biblical year of jubilee, a time when debts were canceled, slaves were set free, and the land was allowed to rest (Lev. 25, Deut. 15).

Logo Piligrims of Hope Jubilee 2025

This year, under the theme “Pilgrims of Hope,” Pope Francis invites Catholics to renew their hope and adopt a vision that can “restore access to the fruits of the earth to everyone.”

EXTERNAL DEBT AND ECOLOGICAL DEBT:

WHO OWES WHOM?

Global financial systems always demand massive debt repayments from countries in the Global South, often on harsh, impoverishing terms. Yet, they do not even acknowledge, let alone repay, a debt owed to those countries. This is the ecological debt that Pope Francis addressed in his encyclical Laudato Si’.

Western societies incur this debt while enriching themselves through economic models that rely on plundering resources from the Global South and on overconsumption. Greenhouse gases generated in the process drive the climate change whose brunt is borne by the lowest-emitting countries in the Global South.

Recognizing this ecological debt is an essential step to achieving debt and climate justice and a sustainable future.

OUR PARTNERS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

Around the world, many people are impacted by the burden of external and ecological debts.

Here are two examples from our partners. Learn more in our Mini-magazine:

PERU

Peru may not be in an economic debt crisis, but it is an ecological debt crisis. To build its economy, and to avoid having to take on external debt, the country has turned to extractive industries. This has serious consequences on the health of entire communities and the environment.

Our partners, the Comisión Episcopal de Acción Social (CEAS, Episcopal Commission for Social Action) and the Institut Bartolomé de Las Casas (IBC) work with several peasant and Indigenous communities affected by the mining and oil industries.

Pérou | Peru

THE PHILIPPINES

Pope Francis village | Village Pape François, Philippines

View of Pope Francis’ village, Tacloban.

The Philippines’ total external debt now stands at over $111 billion. In 2013, the country had to borrow billions in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan. While most large reconstruction projects were debt-funded, one stood apart.

Your solidarity allowed our partners to acquire the land for and build a whole new community, working with 550 typhoon-affected families.

Ten years later, the Pope Francis Village is a thriving example of post-disaster rehabilitation.

SOLIDARITY VISIT

Unfortunately, the Most Rev. Jorge Izaguirre, Bishop of Chosica, Peru, outgoing president of our Peruvian partner CEAS cannot come to Canada for Lent as planned, because he did not obtain his visa in time. 

Nonetheless, our interim executive director Luke Stocking, who was to have accompanied the bishop, will do the planned tour. Here are a few events where you can meet him in Alberta and the Northwest Territories: 

  • Edmonton, March 27, at 5:30 p.m.: Mass at St. Joseph’s Basilica, followed by dinner in O’Leary Hall at 6:30 p.m. Mass will be broadcast live. 

     

  • Yellowknife, March 29, at 5 p.m., and March 30, at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.: Celebration of Solidarity Mass by Bishop Jon Hansen at St. Patrick’s Parish, followed by a meet and greet after each mass. 

     

  • Grande Prairie, April 1, at 7 p.m.: Celebration by Archbishop Gérard Pettipas and Bishop Elect Charles Duval at St. Joseph Church, followed by a meet and greet.

     

  • Grande Prairie, April 2, at 5:30 p.m.: Soup followed by a presentation at St. Joseph Church.

     

Collage - Resources Lent 2025

Resources

Spread the word about the Share Lent campaign in your community and encourage donations with our many resources: poster, Mini-magazine + Solidarity Calendar, short talk, parish bulletin announcements, prayers of the faithful, Way of the Cross, weekly reflections, promotional banners and more!

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